A Great Becoming...http://agreatbecoming.com
A blog about games, networked media, technology, evolution & nature.."You are privy to a great becoming, but you recognize nothing..."Wed, 25 Mar 2015 19:09:12 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/http://1.gravatar.com/blavatar/75e8737a00b1372e96e246077f06cdde?s=96&d=http%3A%2F%2Fs2.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.pngA Great Becoming...http://agreatbecoming.com
Couple of Guardian Articleshttp://agreatbecoming.com/2015/03/09/couple-of-guardian-articles/
http://agreatbecoming.com/2015/03/09/couple-of-guardian-articles/#commentsMon, 09 Mar 2015 18:01:38 +0000http://agreatbecoming.com/?p=4447]]>I’ve been featured in a couple of Guardian articles, so I thought I’m mark that here on me’ old blog…

“When you make a newsgame you into into a whole new world of controversy,” says Rawlings. “When we released Endgame, we had people telling us that we were clearly on the side of the regime because the game was difficult so we were trying to put people off siding with the rebels; then we had people saying that, because you play on the rebel side, the game is pro-rebel.

“So you hit all those journalistic issues to do with bias, but then you also hit the issue of it being a game. That happened a lot with Narco – people said ‘how dare you treat this serious issue as a game’. You have to be prepared to stand by your work, even more than if you’d have written a song or an essay. You need to say, no, a game can be sensitive to the material.”

The second was some commentry on the new Apple Watch…

“One area I’m interested is in how this might be used for board games. This form has been undergoing a renaissance in recent years as crowdfunding has connected players with creators. You can see the tentative steps in this area with games like One Night Ultimate Werewolf, which uses a companion app to assist the gameflow. Linking that app to a player and their movements adds lots of possibilities; think Cluedo played around the house or Hide and Seek 2.0…”

]]>http://agreatbecoming.com/2015/03/09/couple-of-guardian-articles/feed/0agreatbecomingAn Update – Some Things I’ve Been Up to…http://agreatbecoming.com/2015/02/27/an-update-some-things-ive-been-up-to/
http://agreatbecoming.com/2015/02/27/an-update-some-things-ive-been-up-to/#commentsFri, 27 Feb 2015 17:09:25 +0000http://agreatbecoming.com/?p=4436]]>It’s been quiet of late on the blog because life at Auroch Digital and GameTheNews.net has been so busy! I wanted to post a few updates here…

Also the AHRC put out a short video looking at games and included Jack the Ripper: Shadow Over Whitechapel…

]]>http://agreatbecoming.com/2015/02/27/an-update-some-things-ive-been-up-to/feed/0agreatbecomingI was on BBC World Service’s Click program…http://agreatbecoming.com/2015/01/05/i-was-on-bbc-world-services-click-program/
http://agreatbecoming.com/2015/01/05/i-was-on-bbc-world-services-click-program/#commentsMon, 05 Jan 2015 15:44:46 +0000http://agreatbecoming.com/?p=4430]]>Just before Christmas 2014 I was featured on Click on World Service as part of a show on ‘serious games; News organisations turn to video games to attract a younger audience and readership.’ Also in the program were experts Jane Magonigal, Jo Twist, Alex Fleetwood & Bill Thompson.

]]>http://agreatbecoming.com/2015/01/05/i-was-on-bbc-world-services-click-program/feed/0agreatbecomingBB Click Serious GamesJack The Ripper — 5 Mysteries Within the Mystery…http://agreatbecoming.com/2014/12/13/jack-the-ripper%e2%80%8a-%e2%80%8a5-mysteries-within-the-mystery/
http://agreatbecoming.com/2014/12/13/jack-the-ripper%e2%80%8a-%e2%80%8a5-mysteries-within-the-mystery/#commentsSat, 13 Dec 2014 12:50:28 +0000http://agreatbecoming.com/?p=4428]]>As part of the thinking and research for the Jack the Ripper project we’re doing, I’ve been putting pen to paper about my thoughts on the case. (Well finger to keyboard anyway…)

Over the decades hundreds of theories have been put forward as to the identity of the killer; but while it’s certainly the biggest mystery of the case, who he was is by no means the whole story. One of the things that make the search for the culprit both interesting and confusing is that you soon encounter layer upon layer of further mystery surrounding the case. Below are five lesser known mysteries that are hidden within the puzzle of who Jack the Ripper was…

Bristol 2015, the company established to facilitate Bristol’s year as European Green Capital, is asking Europe’s brightest minds to identify new ways that software can be used to tackle environmental challenges in cities in the European Green Capital Digital Challenge. This will include a 48-hour Digital Challenge Hack Weekend on the 6-8 February hosted during Digital Bristol Week, produced by the BBC.

This two stage challenge will see teams of developers together with digital and environmental experts compete for the chance to scoop cash prizes of up to £50,000 to stimulate innovation in the development of software applications and games, addressing five environmental challenges: energy, transport, food, resources and nature.

Andrew Garrad, Chairman of Bristol 2015, commented: “The Green Capital Digital Challenge is about bringing together creative digital experts to generate innovative thinking that facilitates change. We hope this challenge will create software applications and games that enable businesses and many different people to easily engage with and think about our environmental challenges and make positive changes in their everyday lives.

“This challenge will be a key component of Digital Bristol Week and sits within a wide-reaching programme of activities and events that will showcase Bristol’s achievements and ambition in green technology.”

Stage 1: 48-hour Digital Challenge Hack Weekend, 6-8 February

Stage 1 begins in January 2015 and culminates in a 48-hour Digital Challenge Hack Weekend in which teams of up to five people will come together over the weekend of 6-8 February at Bristol’s Watershed to create apps/games, competing for a prize of £50,000 to develop the full product to launch.

At this stage judges will select between three to six finalists, each of whom will receive £5,000 to develop their ideas further.

Stage 2:Digital Challenge Final and Awards Ceremony, 20 April

Stage 2 will see one of the shortlisted finalists receive £50,000 to develop a full product and see another team win a Peoples’ Choice Award of £10,000 for further development work.

The Digital Challenge Final and Awards Ceremony will be hosted at the Youth Summit on 20 April 2015 in Colston Hall.

How to get involved

Teams can find out more information and register to take part now at: www.bristol2015.co.uk/digitalchallenge to express your interest in being selected to attend as a team. The organisers will select the best teams with the requisite skills to give the Challenge the best chance of success.

The deadline for expressions of interest will be 1 January 2015 and the selected teams will be notified by 16 January 2015.

This Digital Challenge is part of a yearlong series of activities and initiatives that make up the International GreenTech Festival.

]]>http://agreatbecoming.com/2014/11/04/green-capital-digital-challenge-registration-opens/feed/0agreatbecoming#Cthulhu Links Worth Checking Out! #CthulhuThursdayhttp://agreatbecoming.com/2014/10/23/cthulhu-links-worth-checking-out-cthulhuthursday/
http://agreatbecoming.com/2014/10/23/cthulhu-links-worth-checking-out-cthulhuthursday/#commentsThu, 23 Oct 2014 11:49:00 +0000http://agreatbecoming.com/?p=4414]]>I’ve been a bit busy so unable to post of late, but that does not mean I’ve forgotten about Cthulhu Thursday! So Here’s a few images and links you might like!

Games are doing much more now than just fun – they are educating, becoming therapy and helping to tackle serious problems.

Non-gamers often only see games in over-hyped tabloid headlines casting them in a bad light. However with around one in three of our fellow citizens now playing games, this session takes a second look at an industry that has grown in scope, subject matter and relevance. Join us to find out how Auroch Digital have been turning news into games, how Knowle West Media Center used games to talk about domestic violence and accessibility expert Ian Hamilton on how technology can be built to open them up to wider audiences.

The Auditorium
City of Bath College
Avon Street
Bath
BA1 1UP
United Kingdom

]]>http://agreatbecoming.com/2014/10/17/gaming-for-good-at-bath-digital-festival/feed/0agreatbecomingClimate Defense (gameplay)Gaming & Democracy Talk at #Play14http://agreatbecoming.com/2014/09/18/gaming-democracy-talk-at-play14/
http://agreatbecoming.com/2014/09/18/gaming-democracy-talk-at-play14/#commentsThu, 18 Sep 2014 08:30:00 +0000http://agreatbecoming.com/?p=4404]]>I’m doing a keynote talk today at Play14 on gaming and democracy and here are the links from it (based on this TED X talk I did):

]]>http://agreatbecoming.com/2014/09/18/gaming-democracy-talk-at-play14/feed/0agreatbecomingScreenshot from Democracy 3democracy 3 chartsThe 5 Most Popular Posts on My Bloghttp://agreatbecoming.com/2014/08/14/the-5-most-popular-posts-on-my-blog/
http://agreatbecoming.com/2014/08/14/the-5-most-popular-posts-on-my-blog/#commentsThu, 14 Aug 2014 17:01:36 +0000http://agreatbecoming.com/?p=4401]]>I’ve been looking at the most popular posts on my blog of all time:

Why those? The 1st and 3rd article are ones that got a lot of upvotes on Reddit, hence the huge spikes in traffic. Plus PZ Myers tweeted them which also gave a huge boost to the traffic they got and still get. Number 2’s traffic comes from Google in the main, it seems to appear on searches related to the money the COD games have made and I guess, answers some people’s questions, hence it keeps appearing the magical Google algorithm. Number 4 was another Reddit upvoted article around the time of a Steam sale and no.5 is another Google one related to people googling for an answer on indie developer income. These posts were written at different times, so have had differing amounts of time to accumulate traffic and I expect the top 5 to change over time, of course.

]]>http://agreatbecoming.com/2014/08/14/the-5-most-popular-posts-on-my-blog/feed/0agreatbecomingCthulhu - quite popular on my blog...Three New Ways of Looking at War, Money and Informationhttp://agreatbecoming.com/2014/08/12/three-new-ways-of-looking-at-war-money-and-information/
http://agreatbecoming.com/2014/08/12/three-new-ways-of-looking-at-war-money-and-information/#commentsTue, 12 Aug 2014 08:36:32 +0000http://agreatbecoming.com/?p=4398]]>Collecting a few article I think are interesting and what new ideas they are looking at in different ways…

Different multiplayer game economies have different aims, but one key objective stands out: the economy helps create and hold together the social fabric of the game. Regular interaction generates interpersonal ties and trust. Having people consume the fruits of one’s digital labour generates a sense of meaning, a sense of a role to play in the community. Division of labour and the resulting mutual interdependence moreover creates solidarity and social cohesion. In short, the economy can act as a wonderful glue holding people together.

The social fabric is important to game developers, because the stronger the ties between players, the longer the players will keep playing (and paying fees). Some games developers expend considerable resources in their own style of economic research, experimenting with different exchange mechanisms and institutions to find the designs that really strengthen the social fabric. When we examine the resulting virtual economies we can see that their design choices are often very different from the choices that a conventional economist would make.

Third are new ways of looking at war in games. Traditionally games are a bit, we’ll, gung-ho about war but as games grow-up as a medium, so the range of approaches developed as Keith Stuart documents:

Most war games are about the unquestioning excitement of military action. Call of Duty, Battlefield, Sniper Elite … none of them really challenge the violence they depict or wonder what it must be like to live amid this madness – they are about soldiers fulfilling their destiny as heroes, whatever the cost. In these fantasies, civilians are only ever tests of the player’s target acquisition skills. Shoot a bystander in Call of Duty and you fail a mission. Humans are reduced to scuttling score mechanisms. But some game designers have started to think about conflict in a different way, and from different perspectives….